Do you voluntarily wear a mask in public places

[Lumix]

Where I live, masks are mandatory everywhere and if you don't wear one you get fined a ton of money. Only in EU and US that debate on the usefulness of masks exists.

It comes from the CDC and WHO who claims that there is no proof masks are efficient and by proof they mean "valid studies". The problem is, it's not ethic to ask people to not wear a mask and expose them to a disease, consequently, you cannot have valid studies with a control group, just a bunch of statistics.

It's like testing if parachutes are efficient to prevent death in case you fall off a plane. It's not ethical to have a group of people not wearing a parachute and count how many of them died compared to the one who were wearing a parachute.

Common sense tells us to wear a parachute when we jump off a plane. Same thing with masks. They are a barrier that prevent water droplets to enter your mouth and nose so they obviously lower the chance to prevent contracting a disease.

In Asia, everybody wear a mask in public space, there is no question asked. If you don't, people stay away from you. At first I thought they were crazy but you have to remember that they already had some pretty bad experiences with SARS and MERS. That's also the reason why they knew what to do and prevented many deaths, and arrogant politicians in US and EU didn't take notes and learn anything. Sad story.

 

[DelayedGratification]

You make a valid point. However, if one is going to protect themselves from COVID-19, a scarf or anything less than N95 just won't work. TBH, you really need a N98 or higher since the virus is so small. Nonetheless, since most Coronavirus's are between 0.02 - 0.01 in size, these masks are basically pointless. Could it catch the droplets, yes, of course. If a person is coughing and sneezing, then a mask would help. However, if they are coughing and sneezing into the mask, then they take it off, the particles become airborne or just move because the mask is thrown around, it's pointless. Also, we use new masks after each hour or so. The public is using the same mask for days, if not weeks. Again, pointless. What Gov. Dummo is forcing NYers to do is going to not help. The social distancing, yes, that helps a bit. People wearing masks, taking them off and putting them back on again after the mask itself touches things is pointless.

Nice frame-holding. You never did answer my quite reasonable question, which I'll rephrase:

Why is it you hold the position that face coverings worn by civilians during a pandemic is futile, when standard medical practice is that face coverings are recommended for symptomatic people in an outpatient setting during flu season?

And just to remind you once again, since you seem hell-bent on missing the epidemiological point: this is not about protecting the wearer, it is about making the wearer less contagious to others.

Your knowledge of and recommendations for different types of masks for prophylactic purposes on the part of the wearer are not wrong. But it is orthogonal to the intent of the CDC recommendation and to many of the points being raised in this thread.

 

[Lynx nkaf]

Those look uncomfortable, but would provide better protection than an N95 mask; if the correct filter is used.

the marks on my face go away within a 10 min break. I still have a water filled face so it plumps back quick. As I shred down will the marks start indenting more permanently-like when you see a glasseswearer's bridge of nose worn shiny? Idk.

the humidity?from exhalation?sweat from overheating? is much more challenging. I clean it every break.
It works and the model in the pic is different. Mine has a flicking mechanism in front so I can briefly be heard by my coworkers then tightened back down for 99.9997% protection.
I haven't seen any media pics of healthcare staff wearing these yet and they're washable/disinfectable!

 

[RickTheToad]

Nice frame-holding. You never did answer my quite reasonable question, which I'll rephrase:

Why is it you hold the position that face coverings worn by civilians during a pandemic is futile, when standard medical practice is that face coverings are recommended for symptomatic people in an outpatient setting during flu season?

And just to remind you once again, since you seem hell-bent on missing the epidemiological point: this is not about protecting the wearer, it is about making the wearer less contagious to others.

Your knowledge of and recommendations for different types of masks for prophylactic purposes on the part of the wearer are not wrong. But it is orthogonal to the intent of the CDC recommendation and to many of the points being raised in this thread.

The CDC stated that scarfs and face coverings will do little for a protection for a person catching the virus or slowing/stopping a person having it and then spreading it to others. The N95 or higher masks could help both a person who has it and prevent it from spreading as well as help prevent a person who doesn't have it from catching it. I am not sure if you know, but actually obtaining a N95 mask outside of essential workers is not very easy right now. It's one of the reasons why I posted the links to eBay to the 3M 6200 resiprators where people can buy them for around $12.00 (that's a really good price BTW). They are reusable, effective and actually wearable. They are also idiot proof. When you see people walking around with face coverings and openings on the side, top or bottom of the face, it's basically pointless. That is why.

I hope I cleared my reasoning up.

 

[RickTheToad]

the marks on my face go away within a 10 min break. I still have a water filled face so it plumps back quick. As I shred down will the marks start indenting more permanently-like when you see a glasseswearer's bridge of nose worn shiny? Idk.

the humidity?from exhalation?sweat from overheating? is much more challenging. I clean it every break.
It works and the model in the pic is different. Mine has a flicking mechanism in front so I can briefly be heard by my coworkers then tightened back down for 99.9997% protection.
I haven't seen any media pics of healthcare staff wearing these yet and they're washable/disinfectable!

It's similar to what I posted. I find the 3M's more comfortable than the disposable masks we wear in the ER unit.